Pneumatic action



March 23 1926.

S. BATTNER PNEUMATIC ACTION Filed Sept. 24, 1921 w a w M M ,J M J mixmn 2 w 0 wr/f M m .K J a MW W W H, [,4 9 I 4 5 z 2 w. 3 Z l I u V 1 l 9 w I W m W 3 w w w l J .4 7/

T \\4 Pm w Ja L I M a a a M a a 3 Patented Mar. 23, 192%.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrics.

STEPHEN BATTNER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

TO THE RUDOLPH. WURLITZER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF NORTH TONA- WANDA, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PNEUMATIC ACTION.

Application filed September 24, 1921.

Z '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STEPHEN Birr'rrinn, a oitize of the United States, residing at the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Actions, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to actions for musical instruments, and has particular reference to pneumatic actions for player pianos, organs, and other analogous instruments.

Amon the objects of the invention is to provide an automatic player action aoapted to be introduced into a smaller sized piano of any standard or conventional make than player actions as ordinarily made can be introduced without sacrificing room for the power elements or pnoumatics, and hence with my present improvement I am able to utilize a player action small enough to be inserted into the smallest piano capacity and yet have plenty of room for large or full sized pneumatics, thereby insuring ample power for the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide an action in which there is employed a single flat plate to which all of the other parts of the action are directly and securely but detachably attached, said plate being made of sheet metal or its equivalent and so possessing ample strength and rigidity to constitute a perfectly reliable and durable structure.

A further object of the inventionis to provide a simple, cheap, and correspondingly more reliable pneumatic action than has heretofore been made, and which does not require the use of any rubber tuning or the like in order to make the connection between the tracker board tubes and the pneumatic or valve mechanisms.

With the foregoing and other objects in view the invention consists in the arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, and while the invention is not restricted to the exact details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, still for the purpose'of illustrating a practical embodiment thereof reference is had to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views, and in which- Serial No. 502,880.

Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2.

Fig. E2 is a front elevation with parts rc moved and other parts in section.

Fig. 8 is a horizontal sectional detail on the line S-3 of Fig. 1.

at is a detail perspective view of the front. unit block.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings I indicate at 10 what I call the aslembling plate, adapted to occupy a .vertical Jlane, and which may preferably be made of sheet metal whereby ample strength and rigidity are provided even though the plate may be relatively thin. This plate provided with numerous openings or holes for the various connections and ports reed to more specifically hereinafter.

otachably secured on the front face of the plate 10 are a series of valve units 11, each unit being in the nature of a compound block, or a member comprising front and rear blocks 12 and 13 and arranged for the accommodation of four independent valve mechanisi'ns. These unit blocks are relatively thin from front to rear and are al arranged in the same row directly against the fr i face of the plate 10, thereby occupying a minimun'i amount of piano space. These blocks may be held together and against the plate 10 by any suitable means, not shown, but ordinarily including the use of springs overlapping adjacent units and locked to the plate 10 by means of screws entering the holes 1 1- tapped into said plate.

The valve unit blocks 12 a d 13 may be made of wood, die cast metal. or other suitable material and are provided with registering ports or openings. The front block 12 is formed in its upper portion with ports 1:) leading downward into communication with a. similar number of shallow pits 16 formed in the rear face thereof. This block is provided also with a. like number of bleed ports 17 extending forward from the rear face ther of and communicating 'ith the respective ports 15.

The rear unit block 13 is provided along its upper end portion with a series of ports 18 registering respectively with the ports 15 of the front block and extending rearward and slightly upward to register with a like number of holes or ports 19 formed through the plate 10. Again, the upper portion of the block 13 just below the ports 18, is provided with a slot formed through the back portion of the block and forward almost entirely through to the front face thereof but having port openings 21 at the front surface of the block registering with the respective bleed ports 17 of the front block. The rear half of the block 13 is provided with a plurality of pits or chambers 22, shown as four in number, corresponding to the other valve features above referred to and adapted to accommodate a like number of valves 23. These pits 22 are indicated as being approximately elliptical and elongated somewhat vertically. Directly forward from each pit 22, the block 13 is chambered at 2% forming a vacuum chamber, and while these four chambers are all in free communication with one another they register respectively with the shallow pits 16 formed in the front block 12. The walls 25 between each valve chamber 22 and the corresponding vacuum chamber 2% are relatively thin, and each is provided with an opening 26 through the axis of which projects a rigid pin 27 fixed in a hole 28 in the plate 10. All of the Vacuum chambers 24 are in free communication with the vacuum slot 20 formed in the of ports 29 formed therethrough above and below the bridge member 30 which carries the pin 27. The vacuum slot 20 of the block 13 registers with any suitable slot or opening 31 formed through the plate.

As is customary adjacent blocks or parts of any pneumatic action system should be provided with a suitable packing strip and also it is customary to include in each valve action of the type herein described a diaphragm for actuating the valves. In my present construction I provide a single sheet of flexible material 32 of approximately the size of the mating surfaces of the blocks 12 and 13, the same sheet constituting at the same time a packing strip between said blocks and all of the diaphragms for the valve mechanisms within the unit 11, the free and active portions of the diaphragm, or what will bereferred to hereinafter as diaphragms 32, lie within the several vacuum chambers 24 and normally against the bottoms of the shallow pits 16.

which co-operates with the stem 3410f the adjacent valve 23. The respective ports 15 of the front block register directly with the front surface of the diaphragms.

Each diaphragm preferably carries a disk 33v Secured against the rear face of the plate 10 is a tube bar 35 which may be made of wood and which extends horizontally along the full length of the action. This bar may be secured against the plate by means of wood screws 36 passing freely through holes 37 formed in the plate. This bar is provided with sets of ports 38 with which the tracker board tubes 39 connect. The bar serves as ameans to support the lowerends of such tubes, and the ports 38 communicate respectively with the plate holes 19.

Below the bar 35 is a vacuum chest 40, the cross section of which is shown in Fig. 1, the same being substantially-rectangular but with a slight projection or neck 40 on its upper forward edge adjacent to the rear face of the plate 10 to which it is secured by any suitable means. The vacuum space in this chest has free communication through a slot 41 and the slots 31 of the plate, and below said neck and between the lower portion of the vacuum chest and the plate is a duct 12 leading freely to the atmosphere at either end of the vacuum chest and having direct communication with the plate holes 29 for the upper row of valves.

I indicate two rows of pneumatics 13, the Pneumatics of each row being supported upon a bar 44 of any suitable design or construction but attached preferably to the rear surface of the plate 10 below the vacuum chest. Each pneumatic is normally open for free communication through the port 15 with the valve chamber 22 pertaining thereto and through a hole 16 formed in the plate. The air flow to the ports 29 for the lower row of valves is directly from the space 17 between the two bars 144 Vhile in some actions there is a distinct and objectional puff or sound due to the flow to or from pneumatics, this new construction is peculiar in that such sound is muflled because of the communication into this space between the two sets of pneumatics or into the air duct 1-2, both of which are well secluded back of the valve mechanisms.

In general the operation of my improvement, is similar to the operation of pneumatic actions heretofore made but specific description of this operation may he briefly stated as follows: Vith the valves in normal position as shown in Fig. 1 and with-a sufiicient vacuum maintained in the chest 40, the vacuum being maintained at the same time in the vacuum chambers 2 1, the valves are held by the force of vacuum or suction against the walls 25, low pressure or equilibrium being maintained on the front side of the diaphragms through the bleed ports 17' At this time the pneumatics 43 are normally expanded being filled with atmospheric air through the communication from the duct 42 and space 47. When air is admitted through a tube 39 from a perfora- Inn tion or slot in the music sheet at the tracker board the low pressure is relieved on the front side of the corresponding diaphragm 32 and so the higher pressure on the front side causes the diaphragm to shift the valve rearward, opening the port 26 and closing the ports 29. Thus the vacuum or suction force acting from the vacuum chamber 24 through the port 26, valve chamber 22, and ports d6 and I5 will cause the collapse of the pneumatic with force proportional to its external area subjected to atmospheric pressure. VVhen the perforation of the tracker board has passed, the valve will be shifted again forward to its normal position to reestablish equilibrium on opposite sides of the diaphragm and to provide direct communication between the pneumatic and the atmosphere through the ports 29, chamber and ports 46 and d5.

I claim:

1. In a pneumatic action, an assembling plate, a vacuum chest, a valve unit comprising two mating blocks having registering vacuum ports communicating with said chest through said plate, a plurality of valves, one of the blocks being pitted to receive entirely therein said plurality of valves and all controlled from the same vacuum chest, and adiaphragm sheet constituting the only packing between said blocks and serving as diaphragms for the respective valves.

2. In apneumatic action, the combination with a flat assembling plate and a vacuum chest on one side thereof, of a valve unit on the other side thereof and comprising two mating blocks having registering ports therein, one of said blocks being pitted to form a plurality of valve chambers, a valve completely housed in each chamber, and a diaphragm sheet between the blocks and constituting separate diaphragms for the several valves at said ports.

3. In a pneumatic action, the combination of a rigid thin assembling plate, a plurality of valve mechanisms located entirely at one side of said plate, means carried by the plate to guide the valves for movement toward and from the plate, and a plurality of pneumatics on the other side of said plate.

4. In a pneumatic action, the combination of a flat assembling plate having a multiplicity of ports or openings therethrough, a vacuum chest on one side of the plate, pneumatics on the same side of the plate, and valve in chanisins on the opposite side of the plate and having operative communication with the vacuum chest and pneumatics through the aforesaid ports formed in the plate.

5. In a. pneumatic action, the combination of an assembling plate having vacuum and atmosphere ports therethrough, valve mechanisms on one side of said plate having cooperating communication with said ports, and a vacuum chest on the opposite side of said plate having direct communication with the vacuum ports in the plate and providing an atmosphere duct between the chest and the plate in direct communication with the atmosphere ports aforesaid and constituting a mufiler therefor.

(3. In a pneumatic action, a valve unit comprising two mating blocks, one of said blocks being provided on one side with a plurality of valve chambers independent of each other and in the same plane and on the other side With a vacuum space communicating with all of the respective valve chambers, a valve in each of said valve chambers and having a stem lrojecting into the vacuum space, and means to control the action of the valves.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

STEPHEN BATTNER. 

